Jacques Villeneuve NASCAR Truck Series Preview: Texas Motor Speedway
Race/Date: Silverado 350k - Nov. 3, 2007 (NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series)
Location: Texas Motor Speedway Fort Worth, Texas
NOTES:
This week�s race will be Jacques Villeneuve�s fifth NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series start, and it comes on the heels of a season-best 14th-place finish last weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
The Fort Worth track is also almost identical to Atlanta Motor Speedway, so Villeneuve should be comfortable with Texas Motor Speedway after logging 130 racing laps at the Georgia track.
Villeneuve�s first memory of Texas is that his mother watched the Dallas TV show in their family home in Monaco. He remembers that somebody shot J.R. but doesn�t believe rumors that JR now races that red No. 8 car in NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series competition!
Lone Star State? If only it were that easy. Villeneuve may be NASCAR�s only world-championship winning driver, but he knows that inside NASCAR, past successes elsewhere count for nothing, and that the series is packed with super-talented drivers.
None of his exes live in Texas and Villeneuve has never raced there before. Country music legend George Strait wrote the famous song All My Exes Live in Texas, but Villeneuve has never dated a girl from Texas.
Strait-talking George has had more albums certified gold or platinum inside the U.S. than any other country artist, and only Elvis and The Beatles have more overall. It is unlikely, though, that Strait has bought Villeneuve�s debut musical album Private Paradise yet.
Texas is about all the 2s. It may have only one star in its state flag, but Texas is the second biggest state in terms of both area and population. It also produces the second-highest gross state product. Villeneuve is not a betting man, but if he can finish in position No. 2 (or higher) in Texas this time around, he will be happy to sing the song to his pit crew.
Right place wrong time? While Villeneuve was in Atlanta last weekend, the Canadian media (TV, radio and print) were busy celebrating the 10th anniversary of his Formula One world drivers championship. Villeneuve is not a big fan of TV, and with a one-year-old baby at home in Montreal, he knows that any attempt to read the newspaper now ends in shreds!
Blondes don�t have more fun in Villeneuve�s opinion. When Jacques won that F1 crown, he was a spiky-haired blonde. Today, in NASCAR, he wears his hair short in style and natural in color, and although he�s not yet winning in NASCAR, he is having the most fun he�s had for a very long time.
Villeneuve�s No. 27 UNICEF truck will carry the 24Heures du Villars logos, advertising an annual charity ski race created by Villeneuve and his long-term manager, Craig Pollock. The race is held in the Swiss town of Villars-sur-Ollon (
www.bcv24hvillars.com). The 24-hour race has raised several millions dollars for a range of children�s charities over the last nine years. About 900 competitors race through the night, and it�s not too late to enter a team for the 10th anniversary event Jan 11 13, 2008, which will benefit Patouch (
www.patouch.org) and the Teenage Cancer Trust (
www.teenagecancertrust.org). The NASCAR world needs representation, as Villeneuve will be testing at Daytona (Fla.) International Raceway, and will miss the event for just the second time ever!
Pink is the new pink. October is breast cancer awareness month, another cause close to Villeneuve�s heart. Having seen several of the NASCAR Cup drivers sporting pink at recent races, it will be left to Villeneuve to continue as the sole male driver to run pink (on his crash helmet) in Texas and beyond, as he has done for the last 25 years plus.
Jacques Villeneuve on Texas Motor Speedway:
"After Atlanta, the most important thing is to keep the momentum going. I want to complete race distance, to stay clean, to finish on the lead lap, and I want to be top 10. We had problems with the truck set-up in Atlanta, so I�ll be hoping to change that. If we can do that, and I can stay out of the way of trouble, I�m confident that we can do well.
From James McArdle / Advantage Management
